clarke



H. N. CLARKE.

STEREOSCOPE.

APPLICATION FILED use. 9, 1915.

Patented Aug. 8, 1916 JIUEU/bf H. N. CLARKE.

STEREOSCOPE.

APPLICATION FILED mac. 9. 19:5.

.r M fi m j Mm H H. N. CLARKE.

STEREOSCOPE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9, I9I5.

' 1 ,1 93,993. Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

I 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- @FFIQE.

HARRY N. CLARKE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE CORTE-SCOPE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

STEREOSCOPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Au". 8, 1916.

Application filed December 9, 1915. Serial No. 65,873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY 'N. CLARKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county or Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Stereoscopes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple cheap and effective folding stereoscope.

My stereoscope when folded lies substantially flat in a very small space and is very readily extended into operative position, providing a complete stereoscope consisting of a hood with lenses, an extensible shaft with a view holder, a septum and a handle.

Another object of the invention is to so arrange the stereoscope that it may be very quickly extended from the folded to the operative position, and when extended all parts may be rigidly held in their relative positions.

My invention is hereinafter more fully described in connectionwith the accompanying drawings and the essential characteristies are summarized in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of an approved form of my stereoscope; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the handle, the shaft and septum, the hood being sectioned substantially at the center for clearness of illustration; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing my stereoscope in its folded position; Fig. 4 is a view of the hood with its various parts extended into one plane, showing how these parts may be connected with each other; Fig. 5 is a substantially horizontal sectional detail taken through the hood, showing one of the lenses and the connection between the hood, shaft and septum; Fig. 6 is a sectional detail taken just below the hood, substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 2; Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional details taken on the corresponding lines of Fig. 2; Fig. 9 is a sectional detail of the friction plates arranged between the two members of the extensible shaft; Figs. 8 and 9 are taken on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, 1 indicates the hood carrying the lenses 2; 4 and 5 indicate the two parts of the extensible shaft, the latter of which carries any suitable view holder, as indicated at 7. 8 indicates the septum secured to the bar 20 and pivotally connected at its rear end to the hood 1, as will be hereinafter described. 10 indicates a suitable handle pivoted to the bar 5 and adapted to engage the hood, adding to the rigidity of the device when extended. These parts will now be more fully described.

The hood 1 is shown as consisting of five plates adapted to form five sides of a rectangular box-like structure or to be folded flat. I accomplish this as follows: One member of the hood consists of a lens plate 12 having a pair of visual openings suitably carrying two lenses 2. To the upper edge of this plate is hinged the top or vizor plate 13. At the opposite ends of the vizor plate are hinged two end flaps 1515. The bottom edge 16 and far edge 17 of each flap 15 is bent to provide an outwardly extending portion 18 and a returning flange 19, thus leaving between these two parts a groove. When the hood is extended (as shown in Fig. 1), these grooves are adapted to receive and embrace the edge of either the lens plate or the bottom plate, as the case may be. To hold the flanges in engagement with the edges of the plates and thus rigidly hold the hood in the extended position, I have provided suitable dents 20, in the nose plate 11 adjacent to the edge, and corresponding projections 21 in the flange 19 adapted to nest therewith and lock the parts in the assembled form, while enabling them to be easily separated. It is obvious that these dents and projections maybe easily made by indenting the material of the structure, forcing out projections from the opposite sides, and that either or both of the plates 12 or 1 1 may be provided with dents coacting with corresponding projections on the side flaps of the hood. The hood described may conveniently be made of metal, as, for example, sheet aluminum.

'Fig. 4 shows the construction of the hood described with the five plates extended into one plane. Now with the top plate 13 and bottom plate 1 1 swung over parallel with each other and at right angles to the lens plate and with the end flaps swung clownwardly at right angles to each of the other plates and the projections 21 spring into the recesses 20, the box-like hood shown in Fig. 1 is produced. In folding this hood it is only temporarily extended into the form h gage the sides of the loops 26 and 28. i1

shown in Fig. 4, for when fully folded the bottom plate lies against the inner face of the lensplate, the top plate lies against the botto-m plate and the end flaps are swung back onto the upper face of the vizor plate. The hood is thus folded into a fiat form (shown in Fig. 3) having substantially the lateral extension of the lens plate and having athickness substantially that of the sum of the parts themselves. It will be seen that when the parts are made of thin sheet metal, as they preferably are, the folded hood is very compact.

The shaft of my stereoscope may comprise the two bars 4 and 5 which have substantially fiat wings and longitudinal stiffening ribs 24 and 25. The bar 4 carries at its outer end a transverse member 26 suitably secured thereon and extending downwardly and inwardly, forming a loop embracing the edges and under sides of the bar 5. At the inner end of the bar 5 are provided laterally extending wings 28 adapted to embrace the sides and upper edges of the bar 4. Thus the bars are securely held together while the lower bar is longitudinally slidable with relation to the bar 4. To provide a friction which permits a comparatively free relative movement of the bars 4 and 5 but which may serve to hold the bar 5 in any relative position given it, I prefer to use friction plates 30, shown as substantially fiat and having outwardly projecting ears 31 adapted to en- These plates 30 are preferably substantially fiat and of a suitable material adapted to cause the desired friction. The plates may be normally slightly curved and of a spring material so that when in position they may 40.

provide a constant pressure between the two bars. An additional plate 32, similar to the plate 30 except that it loops downwardly beneath the rib 25 is positioned beneath the bar 5 and carried by the inwardly extendf ing portions of the loop 26, as shown in Fig. 8. Any suitable view .holder 34 and preferably a finger handle 35 are provided on the forward end of the bar 5. The bar 4 is preferably turned upwardly at its rear end, as at 36, and at the top of this upward extension is formed a lateral T-head or cross bar 37, which has rear-wardly projecting lips 38. Secured to the upward extension 36 is a "ertical rod 39. This rod, together with the cross bar and loops 28, carries the hood, as hereinafter described.

Above the shaft and in front of the hood is the septum 8. This is composed of a double or U-shaped sheet having open vertical ends and an open bottom. Extending between the sides of the septum near the bottom and secured to each side, is a small block 40, which extends outwardly and fits over the rib 24, and is suitably secured to the bar 4. At its rear end the septumis provided with ears 42 which extend outwardly from the two sides near the bottom and loop around the edges of the upwardly extending portion 36 of the bar 4. At the outer edge the sides of the septum are bent or flared outwardly, as shown at 44. The amount of the outward extension may be changed by bending these projecting portions 44 to accommodate the peculiar vision of the user or differences between his eyes.

The upright bar 39 carried by the shaft, lies directly in front of and between the two plates of the septum 8. This bar is secured in position by a clip 41 (Fig. 6), having ears embracing the sides of the upright portion 36 of the shaft, inside the ears 42 of the septum. Surrounding this bar 39 is a tubular clip 46- having projections extending through openings in the lens plate and securing the clip thereto. Above the clip 46 is an ear 48 rigid with one of the side plates of the septum and extending toward the hood and looping around the bar '39, whereby the septum' may serve to rigidly brace this bar, rigidly positioning the hood with relation to the shaft. As shown in the drawings the septum is additionally secured to the upward extension of the shaft by screws 49 extending through ears 50 extending downwardly from the sides of the septum above the ears 42 and secured by these screws to the T-head 37 of the upright member 36.

The engagement of the clip 46 with the bar 39 provides for swinging the hood about this bar as a pivot, it being only necessary to raise the hood until the lower edge of the lens plate clears the T-head 37, in which position the lens plate may be swung into a plane parallel. with the septum, as shown in Fig. 3, thereby providing for the compact folding of the stereoscope. As the lenses 2 are carried in frames 52 projecting forwardly from the front plate it is desirable to provide openings 54 through the side plates of the septum which openings may be occupied by the lens frames, thereby permitting the lens plate to be folded substantially against the side of the septum.

The handle 10 of my stereoscope is shown as comprising a flattened tubular member having laterally extending cars adapted to stand between and be pivotally carried by downwardly projecting ears 61 shown as rigid with the bar 4 of the shaft. 62 is a pivot pin extending through these pairs of cars as shown. Extending upwardly from the body of the handle 10 is a finger 64, shown as stiffened by an intermediate rib. The upper end of this finger is adapted to project through an opening 66 in the nose plate 14, when the hood is extended and in the position resting on the projections 38, as shown in Fig. 1. When the parts of the stereoscope are extended into the operative position this engagement of the finger 64 with the nose plate 14:, prevents the handle swinging about its pivot, thereby providing a rigid means for holding the stereoscope. The T-head 37 and ears 38 rigidly hold the hood against any movement with relation to the other parts, while the septum rigidly braces the shaft with relation to the hood, as heretofore described.

The parts described may be readily folded into the position shown in Fig. 3. The

shaft may be telescoped upon itself, and the handle folded up along the under side of the shaft, the hood collapsed and the lens plate folded against the side of the septum with one of the lenses occupying the opening 54. In such form the stereoscope occupies very little space and may be conveniently put into ones pocket or a suitable comparatively flat package.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a hood carried at the rear end of the shaft, a pivoted handle, and means carried by the handle for detachably engaging the hood to hold the handle in its extended position.

2. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a hood movably carried at the rear end of the shaft, a handle pivoted to the shaft and adapted to depend therefrom, and means carried by the handle for detachably engaging the hood to hold the handle in its extended position.

8. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a hood adapted to swing about an axis of the rear of the shaft, a handle pivoted to the shaft and adapted to fold closely along the shaft or stand in operative position projecting away from the same, and an extension carried by the handle adapted to removably engage the hood to hold the handle in its latter position.

4. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a hood, means for car-" rying the hood at the rear of the shaft and permitting relative vertical movement of the same, a handle 'pivoted at the rear of the shaft adapted to lie closely along the shaft or stand at an angle thereto, an upward extension rigid with the handle and means on the hood for engaging said extension when the hood is extended and in its lower position.

5. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a hood, means for carrying the hood at the rear of the shaft and permitting relative vertical movement of the same, a handle pivoted at the rear of the shaft adapted to lie along the shaft beneath the same or stand substantially at right angles thereto, an upwardly extending finger rigid with the handle, said hood having an opening for engaging said finger.

6. In a stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a vertical axis rising from the rear end thereof, and a hood pivotally carried on the vertical axis and adapted to be moved upwardly and downwardly on said axis for a short distance, the lower plate of said hood having an opening, and a handle pivoted to the shaft and having an upward extension adapted to engage said opening to hold the handle in its extended position.

7. In a folding stereoscope, the combination with a shaft, of a vertical axis at the rear of the shaft, a hood pivotally carried on said axis, a septum above the shaft in front of the hood, means for securing the septum to the shaft, and means for bracing the vertical axis by the upper portion of the septum.

8. In a folding stereoscope the combination with a shaft, of a vertical axis at the rear of the shaft, a hood pivotally carried on said axis, a septum above the shaft in front of the hood, means for securing the septum to the shaft, and an ear rigid with a portion of the septum and extending rearwardly and looping around the upper end of the vertical axis.

9. In a stereoscope, the combination of ashaft, a hood pivotally connected therewith on a vertical axis, a septum above the shaft, means for carrying lenses projecting forwardly from the hood, and an opening in the septum adapted to receive the lens carrying means and one lens when the hood is swung to a position in which its front plate is substantially parallel with the septum.

10. In a stereoscope, the combination of a shaft having an upwardly extending bar at the rear end, a folding hood having its lens plate hinged on said bar, frames carrying the lenses projecting forwardly from the lens plate, and a septum carried above the shaft and having an opening adapted to be occupied by one of the lenses and its frame.

11. In a stereoscope, the combination of a shaft, a folding hood having its lens plate pivoted on a vertical axis, frames carrying the lenses projecting forwardly from the lens plate, and a septum rigidly carried above the shaft and comprising a sheet metal plate bent upon itself into an inverted U-form and having openings adapted to be occupied by either of the lenses and its frame.

12. In a stereoscope, the combination of a shaft having an upwardly extending portion, a hood carried by said portion, a pair of downwardly extending ears rigid with the shaft, a handle having ears adapted to engage the ears on the shaft, a pin extending through each of said ears thereby pivotally carrying the handle so that it may lie substantially parallel with and under the shaft or stand at right angles thereto, and means for latching the handle to the hood.

13. In a stereoscope, the combination of a shaft bar having an upwardly extending portion, a hood carried by said portion, a

pair of downwardly extending ears rigid with the shaft bar, a handle havin ears adapted to engage the ears on theshaft bar, a pin extending through each of said ears pivotally carrying the handle so that it may lie substantially parallel with and under the shaft or stand substantially at right angles thereto, means for latching the handle to the hood, a second shaft bar, and means for slidably carrying the same on the bar carrying the hood.

' 14. In a stereoscope, the combination of a extending portion, an upwardly extending 2) rod carried by the integral upward extension of the shaft bar, a hood pivotally and slidably carried on said rod adapted to rest against said T-portion, and lips on the T-portion adapted to carry the weight of 25 the hood.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

HARRY N. CLARKE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

